Keep Looking Forward

(Published by PDK for PMC)

There is a Bon Jovi song that says, "Never say goodbye." Boyz 2 Men said, "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday." Nsync famously said "Bye Bye Bye," and Chris Brown reminds us that there's never a right time to say goodbye.

I don't know exactly how to say goodbye, but maybe a blog is the best way to do it. I said hello through a recorded video amid COVID. So it's not like we have a traditional relationship. No matter how we do it, it's intended to be complicated.

I remember waking up on April 1st, 2020, at 5 a.m. to get to the airport. I was leaving behind everything I had worked for to pursue everything God had created me for. The ride to the airport was silent, partly because we were tired but mainly because our stomachs were tied in knots.

Reality began to sink in as we jumped out of the cars to say our goodbyes. We were moving across the country again. I'll never forget how tightly my sister held me. It was hard to let go. And little did I know that we wouldn't see each other for almost two years after this. She cried more than I did, but it was the first time we had ever given each other a proper goodbye.

Taryn and I silently agreed that we would not look back, no matter how much we felt compelled to. Not because we were afraid of turning into salt but because we wanted to keep looking forward to what God had in store for us. We stepped onto that plane, not knowing what was waiting for us on the other side but wholly devoted to whatever it was.

Two plus years later, we're here again. Trying to move forward without looking back. It was difficult for me this time because I didn't get to do all the Cornerstone activities I had heard about. I didn't get to see PJ dominate on the court. Or experience the joy of an all-church retreat.

However, I did experience the overwhelming love and support of a community of believers that practiced what they preach. A group of boldly professing Christ followers that refused to let me leave this place the way I came. You all changed me for the better. My next steps in ministry are only possible because of the support and care of Cornerstone.

My prayer for you is this:
'that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.'

Ephesians 3:17-19

I don't know how to say goodbye to what we had, but I do know how to say I will see you again. If I don't see you again on this side of heaven, you can always find me on the south side of The Kingdom when you get there.

PMC out!